In embodiments, the technical field of the invention is methods and systems for collaborative decision-making in medicine.
In the field of modern medicine, most interactions involve at least three entities—the patient, the health worker, and an electronic medical records platform. A goal of the patient is to obtain a medical service or medical advice from the health worker in order to appropriately address a current medical problem, or to avoid a potential medical problem. A goal of the health worker is to accurately understand the needs of the patient, and to appropriately address those needs with a service or advice. The platform is present, in part, to provide a medical history of the patient to the health worker, and to ensure that records of the interaction are maintained for future reference. Often, an interaction between patient and health worker results in determination of a treatment regime that is entered into the platform for digital storage and communication.
The determination of a treatment regime is not, however, the end of the process. In many cases the patient may wish to obtain a second opinion, or the health worker may wish to obtain input from other health workers on the contextualized appropriateness of the prescribed regime. Such review of the originally prescribed treatment regime is often desirable, from a policy perspective, because it may result in an improved treatment regime and will also serve to spread information within the medical community. In resource-constrained regions (e.g., parts of the developing world, etc.), however, many challenges are present that inhibits this process. For example, seeking 2nd medical opinions in resource-constrained regions is prohibitive due to high cost, low diversity in skills among local health professionals, and lack of suitable communications with non-local expertise. In addition to the challenges, health workers with only basic medical knowledge and training (such as may be found in resource-constrained regions) often need more advanced support (e.g., doctor- and specialist-level assistance) on prescribing and refining treatment regimes due to lack of in depth knowledge in treating disease and other medical issues. Finally, a lack of efficient medical records keeping and tracking of health worker interventions may hinder the achievements of these goals, especially in resource-constrained regions.
For at least the above reasons, an improved system for obtaining input and consensus on medical treatment regimes is desirable.